Undiscovered Talents
by elric-logic
Summary: What happens when Eren and Mikasa get left behind? EreMika / Smut / Multichapter / Takes place in chapters 49-51 onward / Contains spoilers / Temporarily complete until the manga progresses
1. Chapter 1

**Greetings! This fic takes place during chapter 50 of the SNK manga, and it is basically my interpretation/headcannon of the chapter, with a little smutty touch to satisfy the desperate need for Eremika lemons on the internet.**

**As you will learn through these next chapters, my lemons are fairly unique (or at least this one is going to be). This is not my first, though it is the first one I've ever uploaded to anything online.**

**Once again, this follows the basic plot of the manga through chapters 49-51, with a slight plot twist, but it is my personal interpretation of the actions and words of each character. Feel free to agree or disagree with my opinions; to each their own.  
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**Enjoy!**

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Eren was a multitude of emotions when we awoke from his unconsciousness and took in the vast amount of things happening at once around him; his hands were bound behind him, and he found himself tied to Berthold's back and sitting on Reiner' titan shoulder, Ymir also in her titan form, growling and swiping at his comrades-his _comrades,_ who had come this far to rescue him.

He was angry, still, that the _traitors_, whom he used to call friends, had kidnapped him and were behind the devastating blow that threatened humanity's extinction. He was ashamed of himself for letting himself get captured and putting everyone who was coming to save him in danger. He was frustrated that he couldn't shift right now, as he couldn't bite any part of himself, not even his tongue, with the gag in place over his mouth. He was relieved that the Scouting Legion (and by the looks of it the military Police had tagged along, too, from what he could see of the horseback soldiers charging across the battlefield towards them) had come to rescue him. And he was determined, to get revenge on his fallen comrades, and for vengeance on the traitors currently holding him captive.

From his bound position on Berthold's back, Eren could hear the desperate cries of the Scouting Legion and military Police as they advanced towards his position, horses galloping at top speed, their riders urging them to go just a little bit faster as they neared their destination. The Armored Titan stood before all of them, Ymir in her titan form, Berthold and a captive Eren standing on his shoulder, all of them in awe that the Scouting Legion had managed to catch up to them in such a short amount of time.

Almost immediately a grapple hook shot into the neck of the Armored Titan, right next to Eren, and he followed the line that led to a dedicated soldier, soaring towards him. The poor soldier was stopped short, however, when Ymir grabbed the cord and yanked it out of Reiner's neck, throwing the Scout off course and onto the ground with a crack of his bones from the impact.

Without a second passing in between the events, Eren's eyes widened when he saw Mikasa spinning through the air, her swords outstretched and slicing into Ymir's eyes before she could react. Mikasa sent her line to catch on Reiner's shoulder, soaring in with a face of unforgiving fury, Berthold turning around at the sound of Ymir's obvious distress and crying out in fear when he saw Mikasa preparing her attack.

"Protect us!" he screamed to Reiner, who reacted immediately by shoving his hands against his neck, trapping Berthold and Eren inside of his protection. Mikasa tried to swipe in time but to no avail, and instead landed on Reiner's hand, staring between the fingers at a frightened Berthold and a frustrated Eren, his eyes closed as he wondered just how his friends were going to free him.

A moment later and Eren could hear Christa's voice calling out to Mikasa, begging her to not kill Ymir. In his head, Eren willed Mikasa on, knowing it was the best chance she had to rescue him, while internally struggling to ignore the annoyance he had that it was yet again Mikasa who was saving him. He could hear Mikasa's retaliation in response to Historia's pleads, and knew that Historia was only wasting her breath.

He could hear the girl explaining Ymir's justification for betraying them, that she would have been killed, which he knew was only partially true. He could also hear Mikasa, who sounded about ready to kill both Historia and Ymir, and then Ymir's growls, and shortly after he could hear the sounds of people swooping in with their 3D gear. Hope filled him right then, as Ymir and Historia wouldn't stand a chance against all four soldiers, let alone Mikasa being among them, and it wouldn't be long before they found a way through the armored hand hiding him away. So he struggled to get free, hoping to distract Berthold and possibly finding away to break free from him, though the traitor urged him to quit it.

"Eren, stop it!" Berthold shouted, though his efforts were fruitless. "Don't struggle!"

"That's pointless, Berthold!" Jean shouted from just outside Reiner's hands. "Carrying him like that is impossible, isn't it? He's noisy and there's just no helping him. I know that quite well. I hate him, too, after all!" Eren could hear him say something else, but much more quietly this time, so he couldn't make out the words. Then he heard Mikasa's cries for Berthold to give Eren back, and he couldn't deny the slight pang in his heart at the desperation in her voice. She seemed like she was on the edge of going insane.

Then Connie chimed in, and shouted with a tone close to Mikasa's, calling the two out on their lies as they pretended to be soldiers, pretended to be comrades, friends, partners, and pretended to be humans. Jean joined in, not only voicing the frustrations that Eren had and still felt when he learned they had betrayed everyone, but they were also trying to psychologically wear the two out, trying to force a weakness onto them.

Berthold's breaking point was when Mikasa, so _coldly_, pointed out that their words weren't going to work, that Reiner and Berthold were just a plague upon mankind. He started crying out some bullshit about not being able to be forgiven, that they really did think of their friends as comrades though they _were_ trying to deceive them, that they had to do what they did, though he didn't let on. He was crying, now, Eren could tell.

"Berthold, give Eren back," Mikasa demanded, her voice as cold as ever.

"I can't," he cried, his voice low and defeated. "Somebody has to do it. Somebody has to stain their hands with blood."

Before anyone else could reply, a shout came from somewhere that was far away from Eren, and he couldn't make out anything that was said beyond the protection of the Reiner's hands. He figured that it was something that had threatened the safety of his comrades, since he could hear the sounds of 3D gear and could feel the presence of his friends leaving him. Though he knew their safety had been compromised, he couldn't help but suddenly felt an inexplicable feeling of fear; he knew they hadn't abandoned him, but they had been so close to him, even if they weren't going to free him like that. He was scared, he couldn't deny that, and knowing they were merely a few feet away from him made him feel comforted. And now that they had left him, even if just for as long as they had to…

Needless to say, he was very angry.

From somewhere below him, Eren could hear the fuzzy shouts of the Commander, and the quiet sounds that must have been several horses galloping about. Suddenly the giant titan he sat on was being rocked around, and he felt Berthold grab onto Reiner's skin in fear. He wondered what was going on in the world behind the titan's hands. He couldn't make out much. There were too many loud, yet muffled sounds that he couldn't make out. He could hear Berthold's cries of worry and fear, and knew that he, too, didn't quite know what was happening and was worried for Reiner and Ymir's safety.

Suddenly the hands covering them disappeared, and Eren and Berthold were opened up to the chaos that was a mass of titans trying to eat the Armored Titan, and Reiner had released his hands to try and shake them off, lest he be eaten alive. He could then see the military forces nearby, yet keeping their distance from all the titans, and he could hear Commander Irvin's shouts as he ordered all the troops to advance.

And even when the commander was plucked right off his horse by a nearby titan, his orders hadn't changed.

Immediately guilt consumed him; he was the one they were desperately trying to save, after all. He had let himself be captured by the traitors, and it was his fault that many of his friends and comrades were going to die in a matter of minutes, probably even less.

He could see three soldiers nearing him, at the front lines, two of them being Mikasa and Jean. The guilt in his stomach froze; he didn't want to watch what happened next, but couldn't force himself to close his eyes, not when this was the pivotal moment of his capture. This was the only moment they had to grab him, before Reiner fought off the titans and managed to get away with Eren clasped down beneath his armored hands again.

It was Mikasa who rose off of her horse first, plunging into the air with her swords drawn, ready to strike, and Eren knew it was only seconds before she would slice through the binds that held him to Berthold. Time seemed to slow down, yet also seemed to speed up, especially when his eyes widened at titan's hand, sweeping at her from behind. Mikasa could see the utter fear in his eyes, could hear the muffled shout at her from his gagged mouth, but she couldn't see the hand that snatched her right out of the air and squeezed the breath out of her.

A pained cry escaped her mouth as the titan squeezed her harder, preparing to bring her to its deadly mouth, but Jean came to her rescue in the nick of time, as much as Eren wished it could have been him to finally return the favor to Mikasa. He couldn't help but feel even more guilty, knowing that he was the direct reason she had almost been eaten.

"We finally made it all this way!" Berthold screamed suddenly, piercing Eren's ears, seeing Mikasa and Jean distracted from rescuing their friend, unable to get past the titans. "We're taking Eren back with us! Back to our hometown!"

_Shit_, Eren thought. The same feeling returned to him, the same one of guilt, knowing that everyone was going to die, because of him. If even Mikasa couldn't make it past all these titans, who could?

Suddenly, Armin, of all people, landed on the side of Reiner's chiseled face, behind Berthold, shouting his name to grab the traitor's attention. For a fleeting second Eren met his best friend's eyes, both of them relieved, determined, and frightened as they were reunited in that moment. Eren could see in Armin's eyes that he had a plan, or was at least thinking through one right at that second. He never doubted Armin's plans, or keen abilities to think of the perfect one in little to no time.

As if right on cue, Armin's eyes settled, furrowed together, as he opened his mouth to speak. It was cruel for him to bring up Annie, and Eren couldn't help but admire his friend for finding the right distraction as both Berthold and the Armored Titan went rigid, eyes surely wide. Berthold even snapped, screaming to the skies about the sons of bitches that were torturing Annie at that very moment underground. It was the perfect opportunity for Erwin's sword to strike, to sweep through the binds that held Eren to Berthold's back, though Eren was oblivious to it until he started to fall. His eyes widened as he saw the mass of titans he was about to fall victim to, until someone's warm arms wrapped around him. He looked down at his savior to discover that it was a furious yet relieved Mikasa, and then he was soaring forward with her as she flew them to safety.

Almost immediately, the retreat order was sounded, and Mikasa landed them near her abandoned horse, throwing Eren over the back and climbing on swiftly, charging the horse forward instantaneously. One hand reached behind her to hold Eren on, as his arms were still bound behind him.

Victory seemed to be in sight as they nearly closed in a mile's distance away from the Armored Titan, who was still struggling with the other titans, that is until he started throwing the ravaging beasts at the retreating units. And Eren, with his luck, was flung to the ground along with Mikasa as their horse was struck with a flying titan.

Mikasa sat up first, her eyes dilating in pain when she felt the force of the impact ring through her damaged ribcage, crushed by the titan who snatched her midair. But then she saw Eren, who lay a few feet in front of her, and she called out his name to see if he was alright, when she noticed another titan approaching them.

A gasp left Mikasa as she stared at the hideously wide smile, the horrendous teeth of the titan who had murdered Eren's mother, the same one who was now glaring down at the two helpless humans, ready to munch on them, too.

When Eren's eyes fell on this titan, he couldn't help but think of his mother. He didn't understand why he chose to remember a certain event with her, one in which she scolded him for getting into a fight and having to be saved by Mikasa, once again, one in which she insisted he act like a man, swallow his pride, and protect Mikasa, instead of the other way around.

And then another memory flooded his vision, this one more tormenting than the last. He could only see the crushed body of his mother in the titan's hand, as he tried to escape the grasp Hannes had on him from over his shoulder. He saw her lifeless legs as they protruded from the titan's wicked teeth, and his anger was building inside of him, again, as Mikasa suddenly leapt onto Eren's back, protecting him from the titan.

His eyes widened; Mikasa would only get eaten with the injuries he was sure she had; he saw the pain etched on her face when she was grabbed, and he heard her cry of pain just moments before when she fell off the horse. And once she got eaten, then he would, too, but the same fucking titan that murdered his mother.

And his hands were tied behind him, and there was nothing he could do about it.

But a new string of hope filled him when someone leapt over the two of them, landing in front of them, protecting them both. He couldn't quite make out who it was until Mikasa exclaimed his name, her voice hoarse as she called out to Hannes.

"Prepare yourself for my sword!" he shouted, taunting the titan as he prepared to fly towards it with his 3D gear, laughing with anger as he did so. "I never thought such a day would come," he shouted, this time to Eren and Mikasa. "Right?! Don't you think so?! Watch me! Watch me use my own hands to chop up your mother's murderer into pieces!

"I have waited for you to come, you bastard!" he yelled at the titan, his face reddening and his voice seething with rage and devotion. The titan swiped at him, and Eren called out for his safety, but he swooped out of the way, just in time.

Eren could feel Mikasa rising to help him, especially with her wobbly knees. He could hear the groans of pain she was trying to suppress, and he could see her body shaking with the pain that consumed her entire front side with the strain she was putting into standing. Of course, she would try to ignore her own shortcomings. She wasn't used to being useless.

"Don't force yourself, Mikasa!" Eren shouted at her, wishing he could stand up to stop her in case his words didn't. Luckily, she seemed to hear him, and looked down at him, mentally torn between wanting to fight and wanting to listen to Eren. "Your injuries aren't mild!" he reminded her. "Untie my hands first!" She seemed confused at first, but hurried to snap the rope binding his limbs with her blade.

"HURRY!" he yelled again, more so at the titan and to himself than to Mikasa. "I have to kill it with my own hands! I HAVE TO TAKE THIS REVENGE BY MYSELF!"

But by the time the rope fell loose from his wrists, and by the time he quickly sat up, as he was about to stand, he watched helplessly as the titan devoured Hannes' bottom portion, his spine exposed in the air as his pelvis was torn from him. The look on his pained, terrorized eyes sent Eren over the edge.

He threw himself forward into defeat, fists pounding the grass as he shouted at nothing, all the while the titan munching on the remains of Hannes' lifeless body.

"IN THE END, IT'S THE SAME AS THAT DAY! YOU STILL WEREN'T STRONG ENOUGH! YOU STILL COULDN'T DO ANYTHING!" His voice raged in despair, but then quickly lost its ire as he felt the tears pool in his eyes. "Mother, I still couldn't change anything…"

Mikasa sat, frozen by Eren's words, until he let out another pained cry, one she had never come from him before. She looked down at his crying figure, and something inside of her broke as she took in his state. He had lost all hope in himself, and he felt so low, so worthless. How could he be so blind to himself?

"Eren," she said quietly, but loud enough to capture his attention. "That's not true," she said, trying to choose her words carefully before she spoke them. Halfway through calculating her plan, however, she discarded it, and just decided to say what was on her mind.

Her first statement was enough to make Eren sit up, his eyes wide in shock at their situation. He sat a little taller than her, kneeling and resting his weight on the balls of his feet. She was leaning towards him, ready to speak, and he was ready to listen, that is until he saw his best friend cowering with an unconscious Jean in his arms, tears streaming from his eyes, absolute terror on his face as he held up his blade, his only defense against the titan that was about to him.

Then Armin met his eyes, and it was then that they both knew it was the end, for them, for everyone, for humanity. Both of them were frozen, their faces wet with hot tears, until Mikasa captured Eren's attention once more.

"Eren, listen," she said, and his dead, green eyes flashed to her dying, gray orbs as she leaned forward another degree. "I want to tell you something." The titan before them was nearly finished with Hannes' corpse, but Eren couldn't see anything else anymore. All he could see was Armin's last minute before inevitable death, and Mikasa still trying to ignore the obvious pain she was feeling as she tried to speak.

"Thank you," she began, her voice no longer containing just fear but also hope, which confused Eren; "for being willing to stay with me, and until the very end." Her face seemed to inch forward again, the tears on his face feeling cold and warm at the same time from her breath, so close to his face. "Thank you, for teaching me how to live, even when it seems like all hope is lost." And before she spoke again, her head bowed, and her face took a light pink fade over her cheeks.

"Thank you," she said again, her voice no longer scared, yet even closer to tears than she was before. Her hand reached up to lightly pull at the red scarf she always donned as she spoke. "For wrapping this scarf around me," she said, her voice cracking as it sounded from her beautiful smile, tears finally spilling from her eyes as they slowly closed.

It was then that everything clicked in Eren's head. His mother's words for him to be a man and protect, rather than needing to be protected, Mikasa's admiration of his ability to be loyal and to keep on fighting until he can't fight anymore. He knew that they knew he was strong, that everybody was fighting for his sake, and that he couldn't let himself die. Jean's words rang in his head, from so long ago, that he couldn't let everyone down who was putting their life on the line for him and for the sake of humanity.

He absolutely refused to die.

As he stood, he remembered Mikasa's final thanks, about the scarf he wrapped around her the day that he saved her life and gave her another family to love. It was a stupid thing to thank him for, in his opinion. Of course he would do that.

"It's just a scarf," he spat, turning towards the titan with rage, taking his stance to protect the one who always protected him, at last returning the favor. "I'll wrap it around you however many times you want it." The wretched titan, who was finished with its meal, turned towards Eren with that bastardly amused grin on its face. Eren glared at it with a loathing passion, pulling his fist back as he spoke another promise to Mikasa. "We'll always be together, so I'll wrap it around you as many times as I need to."

It was then that he felt something hidden and powerful unlock within him, a raging monster unleashed as his fist rammed forward and connected with the titan at such a force that knocked the titan's outstretched hand back, sending Eren forward slightly with the momentum.

With a great shock to every witness, titans everywhere suddenly abandoned what they were doing to charge at the bastard murderer, ignoring all the humans, even Mikasa and Eren who were right in the pathway. Eren quickly turned and bent down to allow Mikasa to scramble onto his back, knowing she couldn't walk, hitching his hands under her thighs as he turned away from the mass titan murder going on behind him. For the brief moment that she could see his face, Mikasa noticed the intricate pattern surrounding his eyes that always followed his shifting back from titan to human.

When Eren got them a good distance away, Mikasa looked over her shoulder at the herd of titans, snacking away at the bastard titan, something that titans never did. She couldn't wrap her head around why they were eating one of their own.

"Why would that one be eaten by other titans?" she asked aloud, not expecting an answer. Eren didn't think of a reply; his mind was numbed by his previous actions, disturbed only by the determination to escape to the rest of their comrades. Suddenly, and without warning, both of them noticed the Armored Titan charging at them from the left, fear striking Mikasa as she knew they were helpless against Reiner in this state.

Eren, on the other hand, knew better than to give in to fear, and dipped back into that rage and coordinating power he discovered only moments before, and gritted his teeth at the bastard. His voice erupted in a roar that at first took Mikasa by surprise, her abrupt gasp unheard over Eren's livid scream, but in a way it was expected of him to react such a way as his fingers curled into her legs with his sudden outburst of rage.

"DON'T COME HERE, YOU BASTARDS! I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU!" And just like with the other smiling bastard that killed his mother, the titans that were devouring the wretched thing suddenly stood and began to charge at Reiner, catching up to him before he could catch up to Eren. He froze as he prepared to fight all of them off, desperately trying to find an opening in the beasts to get to Eren.

While he was distracted, Armin, with an unconscious Jean leaning on his back, quickly galloped over with a spare horse, Eren backing into it to let Mikasa climb on, first. Once her weight was off of him, he quickly mounted and sped forward, Mikasa's hands shooting around his waist to stay up, both of them meeting Armin's relieved eyes as they rode on forward, leaving the traitors behind to deal with the mass of titans.

Mikasa's face buried into Eren's back, the fierce trotting of the horse shaking the crushed ribs in her chest. Her fingers linked together in a strained hold, her teeth gritted as she could feel less and less of her numbing fingers, and her vision blurred when she finally opened her eyes after squeezing them shut in an attempt to ease the immense pain. She felt her grip loosening, and could feel Eren's body shift slightly as he turned to see what was wrong, and that was all it took for her hands to completely forget how to grip, and for her to fall backwards off of the horse. She barely even registered the shattering pain in her chest as she fell, and didn't hear Eren's voice shouting her name, or Armin's shouting his as he quickly turned the horse around to retrieve their fallen comrade.

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**This chapter turned out to basically be a written form of chapters 49 and 50, but I don't think anyone should mind that, honestly. Also, this isn't edited, so I apologize for any typos or incorrect facts. I did this mostly from memory (I've read the past ten manga chapters like 60 times each), with few references to the actual manga. And even then, there are quite a few translated versions, so things might not add up completely.**

**Next chapter gets smutty, if you could call it that. I don't know how long this will be, and it won't really go anywhere as far as plot, but I don't really think that should matter as long as the situation makes sense. I like to think that my headcannons tend to make some sense.**

**Thank you for reading!**

**.elric-logic**


	2. Chapter 2

_EDIT: this chapter was slightly edited to fix a plot mistake. If you've read it before, I replaced Erwin's appearance towards the end with another character, because at that point, the Commander was still injured. This is why I'm supposed to edit. ..sigh.._

**Good day, to you!**

**Not very many thoughts to preface with, just that I hope you enjoyed the last chapter and that you will, for this one, as well. I did my best to actually keep these two in character, something not quite achieved by the majority of the limited selection of Eremika smut fics on this website. I hope they stay true (or at least near true) to their characters.**

**Like the last chapter, this one, too, is not edited. I don't typically edit things if they're just side projects, like all my fan fiction works. This one is a good deal longer than the last, and is basically just headcannon content, up until the very end where we see the beginning of the SNK manga chapter 51. This one also required a lot of research concerning the 3DmG, even though I thought I knew everything there was to know about it. Well, I was wrong, but at least I can say I am an expert, now. lol  
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**Spoiler: Eren is a tease. Have fun.**

**(P.S. I hope I don't end up ruining it for anyone else, but as I was picturing the story in my head while writing, I kept imagining Eren as ten-year-old Ben 10. .c.)**

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At the distance he was away from Mikasa's motionless figure, due to her rolling and the horse's intense speed before he managed to turn around, Eren wouldn't make it back to body for at least fifteen seconds. He was sure he could make it there and start heading back in all of half a minute, quite possibly a little bit longer. With his newfound angry source of power, along with his shifting ability, he was sure no straggling titan would be the end of him on his return trip, even if it proved some difficulty. Either way, any risk was worth the return, in this case.

"Just go on ahead!" Eren shouted at his friend, who had started to slow down his horse as well. "I can get her by myself, don't worry about me!" Armin hesitated briefly as Eren's horse began to accelerate, completing the turn, then quickly nodded and snapped at the reigns, his own horse shooting forward as both friends headed in separate directions simultaneously, eyes locked for just one moment before they both looked forward, Armin's eyes on the backs of his comrades ahead of him, Eren's on Mikasa, who still hadn't moved a muscle.

An eight-meter class had emerged from a small, but thick patch of trees while they were on the retreat, after they made good distance from Reiner and Berthold's location. (Eren didn't recall seeing what had happened to Ymir.) It was now approaching Mikasa's body, as it had been behind them for a short time before she fell off, and as Eren sped towards it, urging the horse to go faster, he gritted his teeth in rage.

Eren caught up to the titan after it had plucked the girl up with two fingers, and as she dangled from the cloak caught in its grasp, Eren stood and leapt off the horse, shooting at the titan, hitting it with a startling impact from below that sent it back a ways. Then a few more titans that had been lurking nearby, hidden by the trees, sprinted out, soaring at the eight-meter and beginning to devour it.

Mikasa had begun to fall from the air when the titan released its hold, and Eren braced himself to catch around the waist and upper legs, kneeling as he caught her to help ease the impact of the fall on her ribs. A low, but quiet groan that escaped her lips told him that she was still conscious, albeit barely, and with that information he quickly stood and darted away from the titans right next to them, gripping her to him in the way that he caught her for the time being.

As he jogged, Eren scanned the area for his horse, but it seemed to have run off. He knew it still had to be somewhere nearby, if it hadn't run off to the soldiers that were escaping far away from them. They were so far away that he could barely see their retreating figures anymore. His encounter and escape from the titan had taken slightly longer than he thought it would, and he didn't expect to lose the horse in the process.

At that point, he knew he had to seek cover in the trees and try to call for the horse. Armin was the only one who knew what had happened, and he was going to be too far away before he checked on Eren's progress to find that he wasn't returning with Mikasa. They had to find cover first, and get to safety up in the trees. He knew he shouldn't try relying on a power he didn't yet fully understand, and if he shifted, he would draw the attention of the titans to him even faster, before they were done with their meal.

He quickly changed course, turning and heading for the trees to his left. After a solid minute of frantic running, Eren found them brief shelter in the shade of the trees, the thick, long branches arching high above them. He allowed himself to lower to his knees, setting Mikasa down as quickly yet as gently as he could, grabbing her shoulder with one hand and holding her up with the other.

"Mikasa," he said urgently, trying to arouse her from the lusciousness and to get her to be able to focus. He said her name a couple more times, shaking her gently, her eyes soon fluttering open, though they were a little hazy. "Wake up, Mikasa," Eren continued, helping her to sit up at she struggled to hold his gaze. "You need to use the 3D gear to get us up into the trees. That's all you have to do. I'll do all the work, I just need to you to keep your balance and try to support my weight, just for a minute. Mikasa? Can you hear me?" With a stiff nod, she clenched her eyes shut, then reopened them again to see fuzziness all around her.

"I can't see," she murmured in a dry voice, Eren rising with her in his arms as she spoke. She didn't need to see, just to keep her balance in the air. Her knees gave out underneath her as she struggled in pain, and Eren quickly stooped slightly, reaching for her arms to pull her up his back, leaning forward as he had done when he was carrying her on his back the first time. When she grabbed a hold around his neck, he reached behind himself inside her jacket for the controllers, then quickly attached them to the 3D gear and aimed high above them, shooting the pistons into the trees. When they landed securely, he fingered the trigger for the gas.

"Are you ready?" he asked, straightening his legs for her to wrap hers around, clinging to his form as best as she could.

"Yes," she whispered, mentally and physically bracing herself for the awful ache that was sure to come as she had to keep them upright. Eren counted down from three to give Mikasa breathing room, then shot them upwards at a slower speed at first, then rapidly accelerated once he was sure Mikasa could handle such a task. Once they were above the branch, he released the grapple hooks and twisted slightly to land as gently as he could on the hard branch, the piston hooks reeling back in with clangs audible in the silence that only existed this high up in the trees.

Mikasa wanted down immediately, and Eren obliged, lowering himself down so that Mikasa could fall backwards, leaning against the trunk of the tree. After a moment of their chests heaving from all the effort exerted since he was first captures, Mikasa's heaving more heavily than Eren's due to her aching body and ribs.

"I should probably take this off," Mikasa said after awhile, breaking their silence of catching their breaths, pulling at the belts strapped on her chest, as well as the rest of her body. "And you should put it on." Eren nodded, and proceeded to kneel forward towards her, reaching to unclasp the body and fan of the 3D gear from her waist, carefully pulling it off of her without disturbing her posture. He let her undo the belts, sliding her boots off momentarily so that she could strip of the belts completely, letting Eren do most of the pulling work so as to not put pressure on her shattered chest cavity.

As Mikasa slid her socked feet back into her boots, Eren donned the belts, adjusting them to his weight and size, then strapping on the gear itself and settled down in a cross-legged position in front of a tired mikasa, who had let her eyes fall closed.

Eren wracked his brain for a plan. He knew it was nearing nightfall, and that the rest of the Scouting Legion was probably alerted of their absence by now. He wondered how long it would be for them to double-back for them. He figured they should rest on the branch until then, as mikasa probably shouldn't be moving with her injuries, and they were still within hearing range of the pasture that stretched out beyond the patch of trees in which they were located.

"I feel like I'm passing out again," she mumbled, her hands finding the bark beneath her and gripping it, trying to hold herself steady. Her eyes clenched as she struggled to stay conscious, her body swaying slightly, but not too much before Eren stood and crossed the distance between them, squatting down in front of her and reaching out to hold her upright.

"I wish I was a doctor," Eren muttered, eventually getting tired of keeping his arm outstretched. He rose to his full height once more, then placed his hands under her shoulders. "Brace yourself," he said gently, a close-mouthed groan her only response to him. He eased her unusually frail body upwards and pulled her forward slightly, so as to give himself some room behind her, then stepped around and sat down, pushing her body forward some more until she was in a lying down position, her head resting on his soft pelvis. His bent legs gave the side of her body support, and enough for him to lean forward and cradle his head in his hands, which was exactly what he wanted to do.

"Who knew someone so violent could be so gentle?" she asked quietly, her question slightly out of place. Eren's eyes widened for a second at her implications, but decided to rub them off and closed his eyes as he leaned forward, bracing his lower back into the tree trunk, hands gripping at his temples.

After silence followed for a long while, and given she hadn't opened her eyes since she first laid down, Eren assumed mikasa had fallen asleep, which didn't surprise him. What _did_ surprise him, however, was how unusually long it was taking for his comrades to come and find them. He also realized, with a strong sense of remorse, that he was exhausted. Not just physically, but also mentally. So much had happened since he had had a chance to sit down and think; there wasn't much of that since the apparent breach in Wall Rose.

That seemed so long ago. That was before Reiner and Berthold were revealed to be betraying bastards, before Ymir revealed herself to also be a titan shifter, and before he was captured. He couldn't get over the fact that he was at fault for all of this happening, for as many soldiers, comrades, and friends dying to get him back that fell.

"Don't feel so bad," mikasa said quietly, after listening to the sounds of Eren's tearful frustrations above her head. He froze momentarily, as he was sure he had been hiding his tears by wiping them away before they could fall from his face to hers, but, as always, he didn't necessarily think everything through, and thus didn't try to hide the small sounds he was making.

"In the end, you proved yourself wrong," she spoke again, her voice gaining some life back into it since her last blow to the ground. "And you proved to Jean and everyone else who ever doubted the need to devote their lives to you, exactly why they should."

"And I proved that you don't need to baby me so much," he spat back, grateful for her words but annoyed that she always knew the right thing to say. "I can protect myself."

"And I guess I proved that sometimes I'm the one who needs to be babied," she replied, her voice still gaining its regular fullness, but quiet nonetheless. It was something she didn't necessarily feel confident in admitting about herself, that when it came to protecting Eren, she was sometimes reckless and forgot to protect herself. But then again, it was Eren she was talking to, so it wasn't like she wanted to hide it from him. She could admit anything to him.

"Not even the best can always be the best," he replied, shrugging his shoulders. Looking down at her, he realized he had never seen her look so weak in his life. Her face was pale, and she was still trembling with each breath she took, particularly when it was a rather deep breath. He could tell she felt dizzy from the way her lidded eyes were constantly moving, and that was probably due to her forced rapid breathing. Normally she looked so confident, even when she was hurt.

Now that she could hardly move without her face twisting in pain, and was nearly helpless, she seemed rather pathetic, when he thought about it.

"I'm still better than you," she said, derailing his train of thought.

"Oh yeah?" he challenged. "And just what if I happened to accidentally let you roll off the edge?"

"I don't think you would do that, and even if it did happen, I trust that you wouldn't let me hit the ground. But that doesn't make you better. If the roles were swapped, I would hope that you would trust me to do the same for you."

Eren sighed, defeated. There was no willingness in him to fight her dominance over him any longer.

"I know you would," he said in a low tone, letting his eyes droop as he stared at nothing in particular. "I wonder why no one has come back for us yet," he said worriedly, changing the subject.

"Just trust that they will, Eren, and they will. That's why I was okay with letting myself fall off the horse."

"You blacked out. It wasn't an active choice."

"But I didn't fight it, because I knew I would be alright, because I trusted you." When Eren didn't respond, she continued. "Sometimes I wonder what I would do without you."

"Well don't bother," he snapped under his breath. "I already told you-"

"Before that," she interrupted. "I've had to wonder, when I was faced with that reality."

"Well don't bother anymore, because it doesn't apply now. I'm not going to leave your side, and I'm certainly not going to die. You can count on that." It was silent for a moment after that, and Eren was startled when mikasa suddenly let out a sniffle, and it was then that he realized she had been crying that whole time.

She _definitely_ looked weak, now. His heart softened a bit, and he refused to look at her. Instead he dropped one of his hands to her face, and grabbing the scarf hanging loosely around her neck, he dried the skinny streams on her cheeks and dabbed at the corners of her eyes, seeing as how she couldn't move either of her arms that were pressed against her sides by his legs. And even if she could, it would still hurt like hell.

Rather than putting the scarf back, he dropped the top of it over her nose, the way he's seen her fashion it over her face whenever she gets emotional, as he figured that's what she wanted.

In a way, he felt like he was caring for a child. He didn't mind it, though, and in fact, it felt like a need of his to do. Then, he supposed that was probably how mikasa felt most of the time, too, when she would constantly follow him around to ensure his safety. He nearly smiled as he finally understood the unusually-fragile girl lying before him, completely relying on him to get her back within the safety of Wall Rose. And she didn't seem to mind it.

Come to think of it, she never even seemed to mind Eren's usual lashing out towards her protectiveness and 'babying' of him. She couldn't have minded it if she kept following after him, and continued to do as she pleased, always insisting that she follow whatever route he chose, rather than what she actually wanted to do, in her heart. He never considered it from her point of view before.

All the more guilt to add to his conscience. Just what he needed.

Shortly after that thought, the both of them tensed when they heard the pounding footsteps of a titan beneath them. Mikasa held her breath, her fingers locking onto Eren's ankles in the fright that they would be discovered. It would mean locating via 3D gear, and she didn't want to endure anymore physical aches for the time being. She'd had enough vital region bone-shattering for one day, and every time she moved, she knew it was only getting worse.

"Relax," Eren muttered under his breath. "There's no way they can see us. I'm no Armin, but I'm not a complete idiot when it comes to strategizing. I picked an extremely high spot in case they did come around." A few seconds passed before his words sunk in and her fingers relaxed into a loose curl around his ankles, but she kept her hands there for a personal sense of security.

"Just keep your voice down," he murmured, tilting his head down in her direction to keep his volume audible to only mikasa.

Silence followed, and Eren slowly closed his eyes, listening to the titan wander around beneath them. Eventually it traveled away from them to the point where they could speak at a normal volume, but it was still close by enough to keep him alerted.

While Eren had his eyes closed, mikasa allowed hers to open for the first time since laying down, and was surprised to see Eren's face above hers. Not that she didn't know it was; it had just sounded further away than it actually was. She took this opportunity to study his face, how much darker his tan complexion looked in the shade of the trees and with his face downcast the way it was. His rounded face had elongated, she noticed more closely, than when he was just a boy, and he had grown a strong jaw line, but she could still see the baby shape that he used to have.

The round shape of his eyes didn't seem so big anymore, and seemed to add enhancement to the barest of cheekbones beneath his skin. His hair seemed longer than it actually was, from her position beneath him, as it hung around his face. Her eyes traveled down from his face to his neck and collarbone, taking in the dirty patches of skin and the residue on his shirt. She noticed how his shoulders seemed broader than when they first enlisted in the military, how the shirt seemed to hang lower on his chest and expose more of it.

She studied the shape of his upper arms exposed by the short sleeves of his shirt, wondering how she hadn't noticed the defined shape beneath his lightly stretched skin. Sure, he wasn't a big guy like Reiner, but after years of military hand-to-hand combat training and 3D maneuvering gear usage, she supposed it made sense now why he wasn't so scrawny anymore. It showed beneath his shirt, too, and down to his lower arms, and even in his wrists as they formed into strong, clenched fists resting above his knees.

She wondered if he would continue to grow. After all, he was only fifteen years old. She vaguely wondered if Armin would grow, and nearly smiled at the thought of him overtaking her in a height advantage. She then wondered if Armin, too, had these lightly chiseled arms that Eren had, and if so, why she wasn't able to realize how strong her two best friends had grown, physically and emotionally.

Mikasa played back the scene in her head that happened just hours ago-not even that long, as Eren stood before her, punching the smiling titan's hand so hard that he knocked it away.

"You've always been strong, Eren, but you've become even more so," she said, mostly to herself, but it was something she didn't mind sharing with him.

"Stronger than you?" mikasa didn't answer right away. Because in some aspects, no, he wasn't stronger than her. Like when it came to titan-killing fundamentals, as there was almost no one better than her. But when it came to willpower and physical endurance, she was sure he could give her a run for her money.

"Yes," she finally answered.

"In what way?" he inquired, letting his eyes open, not expecting hers to be as well, startled as he met her close gaze.

"Willpower," she replied nonchalantly. "Emotional capacity, physical strength, taking responsibility."

"Just to name a few," Eren added on sarcastically.

"I just feel like sometimes you need to be reassured about things like that."

"Not anymore," he said, lifting his head and averting his gaze, staring off to the side in the distance. "Are you going to go back to sleep?"

"I was never asleep."

"Well you should try."

"But you might push me over the edge, as you alluded to earlier."

"I was just kidding around, and you even admitted to knowing I wouldn't do that!"

"I'm just a helpless soldier who got her ass kicked by a titan because she was too reckless in trying to save her only family who went and got kidnapped because he was reckless."

"When you say it like that, it seems like it was my fault you got hurt."

"You are the one who went and got kidnapped, after all."

"Damn it, mikasa. Sometimes you just need to shut up." He did feel guilty, because he was aware that it was his fault she got injured. Truly, they were both at fault, but he had enough guilt weighing on his heart as it was.

"Don't worry," she said, not phased by his harsh words. "I do take blame for you getting captured. I had the chance to finish them off shortly after they revealed their true colors, but I failed to utilize it. I'm sorry, for that. Really, I am."

Eren groaned. He didn't want to think about anything anymore. Not right then. There was just too much going on and he didn't want to care, not when he didn't have to. Mikasa could sense it, and decided to not say anything for awhile.

"How is your…um…?" he began, not really sure what to ask about. He was sure she was hurting in a lot of places, and feeling dizzy, and was probably hungrier and thirstier than she wanted to admit.

"My chest is broken and my head won't stop spinning, but considering all of that, I'm fine," she replied gently, interrupting his stammering before he said something that would embarrass himself. "You're not hurt anywhere, are you?"

"No," he said. Luckily. His hands had stung for a little while as they were regenerating, and for a short while after they had completed, but that was hours ago. His heart hurt, but that was a given. Everyone's hearts were probably hurting. His head hurt, from all the thinking he was trying to not do, but she would respond with something of the likes that he just wasn't used to thinking, and he should probably just use his head more often, and he just wasn't in the mood for that kind of sass.

"Seriously, though," he continued. "Just try sleeping until they come back. I'll wake you if I have to."

"What about you?"

"I'm fine."

"Eren."

"I promise. Stop worrying so much." With that, she closed her eyes and tried relaxing, but her constant feeling of being short of breath made that hard with her head spinning the way it was.

"Well, maybe you'll just pass out again," Eren replied, trying to sound hopeful after she voiced her complaint. "That should help you rest."

"Not when I'm laying down," she said, brows furrowed in irritation. "And I know you know that." Eren chuckled in response as he considered an actual solution in his head momentarily. He hesitated before lowering one of his hands to her face, stroking the skin gently with the back of his first two fingers. "Does that help?" he asked shyly, immediately catching the blush in her cheeks and nearly stopping, finding the heat rising to his own face at her reaction to his simple touch.

"Yes," she said, though he could barely hear her response, barely a whisper. It was a silent plead for him to continue, so he did, watching with curiosity as she turned her head to the side, allowing his fingers to travel to her neck and ear, her face reddening in color when he dared to stroke her neck, as she seemed to be asking him to do. He could only dip his fingers down so far, until her scarf got in the way, but it was hanging loosely enough that he figured she wouldn't mind if he pulled it away, so long as he would be occupying that spot.

Eren's fingers trailed down her neck to her collarbone after gently setting the scarf aside, resting it on her broken chest, then worked to open the green cloak she was still wearing, letting its edges fall off her shoulders. His skin burned on hers, leaving behind a hot trail that took forever to cool as he traveled up her neck on the other side, dipping to beneath her chin, watching as her face turned and adjusting to more easily allow his movements over her pale, creamy skin.

Her lips parted when his fingers ghosted over them, and her breathing seemed to become more rapid with his touch. He wasn't quite sure what he was doing, or what kind of effect, exactly, that he was having on her, or whether he should stop altogether. But his curiosity got the better of him, as she was completely defenseless in that moment, unable to move, trapped between his legs and beneath his strong upper body, at his will. He felt warm inside, as he let that thought linger, having that kind of control. Plus, she seemed to be inviting it, almost as if she wanted to submit to his will.

Eren felt the sudden increasing desire to test this theory as the warm feeling grew within him. Soon his thoughts were revolving around how weak and fragile she looked, how small she seemed in comparison to him in that moment. For once, he truly felt superior to mikasa, and he admitted that he rather enjoyed it. And, perhaps, she was finally feeling inferior to him, and rather enjoyed it, too. She certainly was acting like it, the way she relaxed at his touch and egged him on, the way she turned her head just the way he wanted her to, the way her face was nearly as red as his.

He decided to carry out his test by running his fingers down her neck once more, pausing at the base of her neck to stroke under her chin with the lightest of touches, this time eliciting an almost-unheard moan from her small, parted lips. He found her pulse and felt it momentarily, taking a secret satisfaction in that it was racing, knowing it was because of him and his display of affection.

Mikasa didn't dare to open her eyes, not when she was being a controlled by him as she was. It was one thing to submit to Eren with his gentle touches in her weakest moment, another thing entirely to show complete submissiveness when she wasn't entirely sure what was going on between them in the first place.

It had started with an attempt to relax her busy, spinning mind, so that she could sleep, and somehow, through both of their curiosity, turned into something that was making her mind spin even faster, making it even harder for her to breathe. And she didn't even seem to mind the sharp stabs in her chest as she stopped trying to control her breathing. It was so easy to be distracted by his warm fingers, his delicate touches. And though he seemed a bit clueless and shy at first, she could tell he was learning.

Eren wondered what was happening as he continue to stroke her neck and face, beginning to work his focus down to her collarbone and even to the skin just inside the top of her shirt. He hadn't ever realize where the neckline was with the scarf always in place, just below her collarbone. He wondered if he might get to see her without the scarf hiding this skin from him, more often.

Now that he thought about it, Eren had just pulled it off without even asking, and she didn't object. She just allowed him to do as he pleased, putting full trust in him without any hesitation. He supposed she had always trusted him like that, and she was probably wondering if this kind of situation should still apply under that trust.

He wondered what other things he could do, without her objection. And, well, he was never afraid to try new things.

Feeling the warmth within him begin to boil, Eren traced her lips with his thumb, his eyes glazing over her face and down her neck, finally resting on her rising-and-falling chest, deciding what his next test would be. His alert eyes watched her closed ones as his hand traveled down, soon reaching the point where he hadn't yet dared to cross, then crossing it. He was careful to only let two fingers graze the softer skin beneath her shirt, extra careful to not put down any pressure whatsoever, even as he reached a dipping valley, surrounded by smooth, soft mounds of her luscious skin.

Her face was scarlet by now, but she remained silent, her eyes seeming to shake beneath her tired lids. Her mouth was parted slightly wider, and occasionally her tongue emerged to wet her lips after her short, fast breaths dried them out again. She didn't show any signs of wanting him to stop, and they were both beginning to pick up on the hint that, if she weren't severely injured, it wouldn't rely matter if she wanted him to stop or not. He could do whatever he pleased, and she would allow it, as she trusted him with her life. Her very essence revolved around him; he was the heart of her core.

His fingers grazed over the smooth skin of the top of her round breasts, going as far as the top of her bra would allow, then he retracted his hand, resting it at her ear. He stroked the sensitive cartilage, being sure to gently pull along a few strands of her hair, as well, and continued this until her breathing slowed, considerably.

Eren figured that was enough for now. He didn't want to do anything they might regret later, though he doubted that was possible. He did feel slight guilt in giving into the seething curiosity he had felt, but as long as mikasa enjoyed herself, it wasn't that bad.

"Sorry," he said, the first verbal words spoken in a long time. Everything else had gone unspoken, but clearly understood. He could control her, and with great ease, at that, but only when he asserted himself. And it was only in that way. He could never prove to anyone his class of superiority over her, not without breaking several laws and without putting her trust in him into jeopardy.

Eren sighed, knowing that that was okay. He knew that he could one day take it further than he had done so, today, if he really wanted to. And he most certainly did. That warm feeling she gave him wasn't entirely gone, and yet it had never been there before. He didn't need everyone to know that mikasa was better than everyone, even him, mankind's last hope. As long as he knew that he was mikasa's weakness, and was able to utilize it to his desire and advantage, then she could publicly kick his ass, all day, every day.

"Don't be," she finally replied, her voice small as she kept her head turned to the side, her nose pressing into his inner thigh, nuzzling right in between the two belt loops. Eren couldn't fight back the small smile at the sight of her so openly nuzzling him, even if it was hardly that. He still wasn't quite sure what had happened between them, but in a way he was glad it did happen.

Replacing the scarf back around her neck, he returned to stroke her face with the same two fingers as before, the blush lightening but not quite leaving her face. He imagined the same tint coloring his own skin, but was distracted from that thought when he heard the sounds of the titan from before, wandering about lazily, beneath them.

He thought it a bit weird, considering that the sky was darkening as the sun was setting, and that it was sheltered by the thick patch of leaves overhead. It was probably unique like that, as had been one of the captured titans for Hanji's experiments that she told him about.

That seemed like a very long time ago, too.

Not too long later, Eren could hear the gentle heavy breaths coming from mikasa, indicating that she had fallen asleep. As a breeze rustled the leaves about them, he noticed her shivering slightly, and it was then that he realized the temperature had been dropping. Not that he minded it, despite his short sleeves. He found it nearly incredulous that she was cold in her uniform's jacket, but nonetheless pulled the cloak he had removed back over her shoulders and clasped it around her neck.

He leaned his head back against the tree trunk, wondering how much longer it would be until their rescue squad showed up. He tried to estimate how long they had been missing, and figured it had been nearly two hours, at that point. Just what were his comrades doing? Setting up a fucking camp and roasting marshmallows?

He sat in silence for another hour or so, his hand that had once been stroking mikasa's face now lay limp against her ear, as he had been doing it absentmindedly and eventually stopped putting in the effort. His eyes had been closed, the adrenaline finally weaning out of his system. It was then that the effects of sleepiness started to set in, but before he actually felt tired, a promising noise sounded nearby.

Galloping. Shouts of his and mikasa's name. He could begin to see a faint glow of torches nearing the area far down below him, despite the numerous trees that must have stood in the way. That probably meant that is was well into the night, and the titans were motionless for the time being. Perhaps that is what Commander Smith had been waiting for, and trusted Eren to keep the two alive until help came to retrieve them.

"Eren!" he heard someone call, the voice familiar but not clear enough for him to tell who it was. Eren quickly stood to his feet, careful to not move mikasa around. His plan, as he quickly attached the controllers and sent himself soaring through the trees, was to alert them of their presence, first, then come back for mikasa, to ensure that they didn't miss their comrades on the search.

"I'm up here," he shouted at the group of his friends that were charging through the area, though at a slow speed due to the night limiting their vision. They stopped their horses, a captain of one of the scouting legion squads at the front of the group, and held up their torches to see as high and as far as they could in the dim space around them. Sure enough, they could see Eren's silhouette as he was standing against a tree trunk on the outskirts of the miniature forest, hanging from one cable.

"Eren!" the captain shouted, as well as several others in the search party, Armin among them. Eren sighed in relief as the group stopped, then trotted over to the side of the forest where he was.

"I'll be right back," he said, launching himself back to the tree branch where he had left mikasa, who was now awake and trying to sit up, worry on her face. It was replaced with relief as soon as she saw him land on the long branch and jog towards her, crossing the distance between them in only a few strides.

"I thought you-" she stammered, the look on her face indicating she was about to cry.

"Holy shit, mikasa," he said, kneeling before her with a scolding look on his face. "Even after what I told you earlier? You thought I abandoned you?"

"I don't know… I just-"

"Come on, they're waiting for us," he said, his face melting into something a little softer as he changed the subject, for her sake. "Can you stand?"

"Not by myself," she admitted, still propping herself up on her shaky elbows. Sighing, Eren squatted down onto one knee, the stood with a near-silent grunt as he lifted her up by the armpits. He turned his body so that she could have access to his back, then stooped down so that she could climb up and above the fan mechanism on his waist, trying to support her weight as best as he could while she was standing. When he knew she was secure, Eren leapt off the branch, shooting them forward and arching them through the small patch of trees, coming to a stop several moments later at the edge, aiming for a gentle landing on the grass in view of the rescue squad. He could almost hear everyone's sigh of relief upon sight of the two missing soldiers out of harm's way.

Moments later they were racing on horseback, heading for the wall. To Eren's surprise, they eventually stopped at a makeshift camp site, where everyone else had been waiting for the search squad to return.

Hours later, they had finally returned to the safety of the wall. Everything was in chaos now that they had no fears of titans sneaking up on them, or another attack launched at them. Their numbers had dwindled, and as he saw people around him crying for lost ones and thanking the gods for their saved lives, Eren couldn't help but feel that guilt returning to him again.

A cringing, injured mikasa in his arms, Eren searched for a place to lay her down, and was directed by an older man within the Scouting Legion to an available stretcher, near other wounded soldiers. The man sat across from Eren as he knelt down to his knees, lowering mikasa down gently onto the stretcher. He could sense Armin's presence approaching them from behind.

"Yeah, get her down slowly," the man said, guilt consuming Eren as he realized just how pale and weak mikasa looked after the trip back. She looked sick, now. Everyone around him looked sick, and it was all because of him.

"Her ribs must have been crushed from the titan attack, and were shaken up from being on a horse for a long time. She needs to get to a doctor quickly."

Eren felt Armin's presence as he came to a stop behind him, his friend kneeling down in front of mikasa, beside him. Both of them looked worried, Eren in particular. He looked _remorseful._

"Eren," she said hoarsely, more than she had been at her weakest, earlier. "I'm alright," she assured.

"I'm sorry," he said, Armin's hand lifting and resting on Eren's shoulder, assuring him that mikasa would pull through. He didn't meet either of their eyes, and focused instead on letting their words sink in. All he wanted was to lie down somewhere and sleep. The overwhelming feeling of a guilty conscience weighed on his heart again, only more impactful this time, with all that had happened since his time spent thinking while up in the trees with mikasa.

Eren sighed, trying to temporarily numb himself of the pain that was being humanity's last hope. The world was, indeed, a very cruel place. But, as his eyes flickered back to mikasa's resting figure, and as Armin's hand comforting hand fell away from his shoulder, he remembered that there were some beautiful things in the world, too.

* * *

**To be honest, I really didn't know how to end this. I didn't want to jump to Erwin passing out right after Eren gets mikasa medical help, because I didn't feel like writing out that chapter, too. That's not the point of this fic. (Chapters 49 and 50, however, were quite necessary. Oh, the feels.) **

**Next chapter is going to take place while mikasa is still recovering, but it will be at the point where Levi has selected his new squad, and Eren and Historia/Christa are being hidden. **

**I don't plan on making this very long, though. It's just intended for smut, but I also want it to follow the plot and make sense, too. I will probably upload three more chapters or so, if all goes as well as I hope it will. You can definitely count on two more, _maybe_ just one if I work hard enough to squeeze things in. But, I don't want to do that. I would also like to wait on the manga advancing a little more to give myself an idea of where our two love birds will be before I decide to finish this, but I might just pull something out of my butt first and then rewrite it when more manga chapters come out that I think I can use.  
**

**This will not be my only Eremika smut. The world needs more quality Eremika fics, and I plan to write many, _many_ more. I also hope to keep them in character, which is a major flaw I've noticed in other fics I've read. **

**Which brings me to my next thought; how well (or terribly, God forbid) did I write these two? O.o Any suggestions, or possibly even some praise? ^^ I, personally, think I did an okay job, better than most, in fact. But I could just be a bigoted hypocrite, I'm open to that possibility, too.**

**Anyway, thank you very much for reading, and any feedback to the aforementioned question would be greatly, and sincerely, appreciated.**

**.elric-logic**


	3. Chapter 3

**Greetings! Sorry for the long update. (I've been sick and working nonstop, and I have little free time these days, unfortunately.)**

**The delay was also due to the fact that I rewrote this chapter twice because I wasn't quite satisfied with it, but this draft doesn't piss me off as much as the other two, so I just went with it. **

**The story is not discontinued, but there will not be another chapter for a few months, given that I need to let the plot of the manga ensue. There might be a surprise update if I can fit in some smut with what happened between the end of this chapter and manga chapter 56, but I don't know how likely that will be with my schedule and lack of imagination.**

**Enough chit chat-enjoy~!**

* * *

It was just a few minutes after twelve o'clock in the afternoon. There was a small cottage with a stable that resided near a mountain reserve, miles and miles out into the middle of nowhere. Standing outside the cottage with three horses saddled and ready for a journey was Jean, waiting patiently for the Corporal and Armin, who were inside the cottage finishing the last of their preparations.

"When will you three be back, Captain?" Sasha asked from her seat at the table, Connie, Eren, and Historia seated around her. All of them held a handful of playing cards, with a bigger pile of cards between them in the center of the table.

"Hard to say," Levi responded, pulling his coat over his figure, eyeing the space around them with disgusted scrutiny. The group had only arrived the day before, and the place was still beyond filthy. That wouldn't do. "Probably a couple of days, at the latest. And I expect this place to be in tip-top shape when I return. Now where the hell is Armin?"

"He's still upstairs, sir," Eren said with a sigh, setting down his hand of cards, defeated. The rest of the group followed suit, Connie jumping from his seat in victorious cheers and sending the chair falling with a clatter to the floor.

"That's three times in a row! No one can defeat the king!"

"You bastard, you're cheating! I know it!" Eren shouted, standing up as well and pointing an accusatory finger at him as Sasha gathered the cards into a single deck and began to shuffle. Historia giggled at the scene.

"Eren, go get your boyfriend and tell him to hurry up," Levi commanded, his loud voice interrupting the fiasco. "We have places to be and not much time to get there."

"What the hell, Captain?" Eren yelled, turning his anger towards the short Corporal. That kind of comment was ridiculous and uncalled for.

"You heard me. Now hurry up. Tell him Jean and I are waiting outside and we won't hesitate to leave without him." Muttering under his breath about ignorant captains and homosexual accusations-even if lighthearted-Eren headed for the staircase around the corner, taking the steps two at a time in a hurry to find Armin.

It only took a moment to find him; his best friend was carrying his coat over his arm and had his unlaced shoes in his hand as he walked out of the far back room on the left side of the hallway-the room Mikasa was currently using to recover. Armin jumped in surprise at the sight of Eren at the top of the stairs, not expecting to see anyone.

"Eren," he said in surprise, continuing down the hall and turning into a room on the right, pausing in the doorway to allow Eren to catch up. Once inside he sat down on the edge of one of four beds in the room, put together in bunk bed style.

"What were you doing in there?" Eren asked curiously as Armin slid his socked feet into his combat boots. "She's been doing nothing but sleeping since before we got here."

"I know," Armin said. "But the last time she was awake she insisted she was fine. You and I both know that deep down she doesn't actually believe she's healed, but the last thing she wants is to be injured. I'm just worried about her trying to do things her body isn't ready for, yet."

"Like what?" Eren asked. "All she can do is roll over, eat, sleep, and be taken to the bathroom. What would she try to do? Put on her gear and train?"

"She would probably try to get up and walk around. Even sitting up without assistance could break whatever fractures that have begun to heal," Armin said. "And if she did fall, what do you think she would do?" Eren pictured it in his head; an injured Mikasa crumpling to the ground in pain, digging into the floorboards with gritted teeth. She wouldn't call for help, but continue to try and stand up, which would only make her injuries worse. And then she would give up, and just lay there until someone found her, too caught up in her pain, anger, and pride-and then embarrassment.

"I'll watch her," Eren said, looking at the ground. It was easier to fight Mikasa's stubbornness when she was in a medical ward and drugged to sleep, but now they would have to keep an eye on her. He was glad Armin said something before he left.

"I'm really worried about her," Armin admitted. "She probably hates herself for getting caught by that titan. She'll probably feel useless being in bed all day, too, once she stops sleeping so much."

"I worry about that, too," Eren replied, sitting down beside Armin on the bed. "She hates not being part of the action. And Hanji-san wants to start doing experiments on my titan as soon as possible, and Mikasa is in no condition to join us."

"That's going to be a big pill for her to swallow," Armin said, cringing. "Maybe we can hold off on it until she's fully healed."

"We probably will. Knowing her, she'll put up enough of a fight."

"Especially if it concerns you."

Silence filled the next moment as Armin bent down to tie up the lace on one of his boots, Armin's words sinking into Eren's heart a bit more than the blonde intended. At least that's what Eren liked to think.

"You should hurry," Eren said, breaking the silence. "Levi-heicho and Jean are waiting for you."

"Alright," Armin said, bracing himself on his knees as he pushed himself up off the bed. Eren handed him his coat, Armin taking it with a grateful nod. He watched as the blonde shrugged into it as he walked to the door, boots clomping on the floorboards, adjusting the collar before pausing in the doorway.

"Hey, Eren," he said, turning slightly but not fully facing his friend. "I wanted to ask you something."

"Sure," Eren said, eyeing his friend's curious body language.

"Back there," he said, and then he paused. The dark and depressing tone in his voice told Eren exactly what he meant despite the ambiguous words; back outside the wall, back in the clearing where the entire military force caught up to Eren's kidnappers, back there in the hell where they had almost died. "What happened between you and Mikasa?"

"What do you mean?" Eren asked after a brief moment, his voice low and his eyes lower.

"When that titan was eating Hannes-san," he said, Armin's voice barely audible. "When you looked over at Jean and I, and I looked at you…" His voice broke off, his mind not wanting to think about the darkest moment he'd ever experienced, when he and Eren thought for sure that they were about to die and their only goodbye was a tearful glance at each other.

"First she was talking, and then she was crying and looked like she was about to kiss you," Armin finally said, skipping over the dark part. A light blush fell over Eren's cheeks as he thought about Mikasa's face and how close it was to his in their seemingly last moments. He supposed Armin was right; Mikasa did seem to be leaning even closer to him despite the few inches between their faces. Then he thought that that was perhaps the reason he stood so forcefully and turned away, due to embrassment.

"Nothing happened," Eren said, his face turning to the side and growing more deeply red by the second. "She just thanked me." Armin turned to face his friend again with a small smile on his lips. He didn't have to ask what Mikasa thanked him for. He was pretty sure he already knew.

"And then what happened when she fell off the horse on our way back?" Armin wasn't sure if it were possible, but Eren's face grew as red as a tomato.

"What I already told everyone," Eren said through gritted teeth. "I doubled-back for her and then took shelter in the trees because the horse ran away. And we waited there until we heard the rescue party." Armin contemplated asking what had happened while they were in the trees, because by the look on Eren's face something did, indeed, happen, but he figured he'd tortured his friend enough.

"I was just curious," Armin said apologetically. "Sorry for intruding on personal matters."

"Shut up, Armin," Eren said. "Don't apologize. You're my best friend-I would expect you to ask shit like that. It's not a big deal."

"Then, in that case, I'm sorry for embarrassing you by asking about personal matters. You should really work on that blush while I'm gone, otherwise anyone you don't want knowing will know you like Mikasa if they ask." The blonde was out the door and already heading down the stairs before Eren snapped his head up and glared at the empty doorway, sighing and punching the space on the bed beside him.

_Damn you, Armin_, he thought, his fists balling and trembling for a moment before the anger subsided. Then he lifted his legs onto the bed and turned to lay down, crossing his arms up underneath his head.

He must have fallen asleep, because he was awoken by a thump from a room across the hall, followed by the faintest of cries that only he would recognize. He was up in a split-second, cursing Mikasa for being stupid and cursing himself for not watching her like he promised Armin.

Eren stood in the doorway of the small room for a second to assess the situation, before crossing the room in a few strides to kneel down beside the cringing girl on the floor.

"Damnit, Mikasa," Eren chastised, as the sounds of his squad members running up the stairs and into the room could be heard. Mikasa's tired and confused eyes met his angry and concerned ones. She relaxed her body when she realized what she had done and felt the pain surging through her.

"What happened?" Sasha asked from the doorway, Connie already across the room and kneeling down beside Mikasa, across from Eren. Mikasa didn't respond, but instead kept her eyes on Eren's before closing them in defeat. Eren could see the hurt in her dark orbs, and the blush she was fighting back. His expression softened as he understood what had happened.

"Help me turn her over," Eren said, his gaze lifting to Connie's. Together they lifted her body up just enough to roll the injured girl onto her back, with as little pain as possible. Eren could see how hard it was for her to fight off the urge to cry out in pain.

"She tried to get up without thinking," he said, noticing the tension in her jaw. "She's delirious."

"She looks really pale," Connie said, reaching forward to feel her sweaty forehead. "And she has a fever."

"I'll go get a washcloth," Historia offered, leaving the room as Eren slid his arms underneath his fragile friend. He stood slowly, cradling her gently against his chest as he stepped over to her bed, lowering her into it. Her skin felt hot, so he only covered her with the thin sheet and kept the heavy blanket crumpled in a heap at the foot of the bed.

Historia returned moments later with a cold, wet cloth and a glass of water. She started to ask Eren if there was anything else she should do, but was stopped by Sasha.

"Let's just leave them alone," she said quietly, pulling her out of the room. Connie followed a moment later, after talking with Eren about the medicines Mikasa had been described and retrieving them while Eren watched her.

"I was sure Armin would have these by your bedside already," Eren mumbled as he opened the container, popping out the dosage and holding them out to her. Mikasa didn't look at him, or his hand, and stared up at the ceiling with sleep-covered eyes. Despite how long she had been resting, she still looked sleep-deprived.

He then propped her head up and put the pills to her lips, waiting patiently for her to open. She sighed first, before doing so, but sucked them off his hand and waited for him to tip the glass of water into her mouth before swallowing. Then, not realizing how thirsty she felt, Mikasa drained the glass and let her head fall to the pillow, waiting for the pain reliever to kick in and for the drowsiness to overcome her again.

"How did you know what happened?" she asked after a long silence followed, her voice quiet and weak.

"You may be an emotionless rock to everyone else, but Armin and I can read you like a book."

"No," she insisted. "Armin can. But you're not exactly the best at reading feelings." Take the fact that he was completely oblivious to her feelings for him until she spilled her guts to his face, and even then he didn't quite take them in right away.

"Hey, I'm getting better at it. At least with you." Take the intimate instance they shared little over a week ago, _back there_. Too tired to speak, Mikasa just nodded, giving him the smallest of smiles as she fought the sleep-aid. He didn't return it, though it did warm the pit of his stomach. It was starting to get that feeling again, the one he got whenever he looked at her in her condition.

The one that told him _he_ was responsible for her injuries. _He_ was the one hurting her pride-even if he did think it was stupid for her pride to be hurt.

Guilt.

The last taste of guilt he'd had was during his conversation with Jean shortly after they returned from his kidnapping. That, and whenever he saw Mikasa, or anyone else who was injured during the expedition, for that matter.

"Eren," Mikasa said, returning his attention to her. Her eyes were closed but struggling to open. It was a fight she didn't win; as Eren could tell she was near asleep only seconds later, when the fluttering of her lids ceased. He removed the wet cloth from her forehead to feel her temperature, then replaced it. Her fever was still burning, but it was cooler than earlier thanks to the cloth and the medicine.

He took a seat in the chair beside her bed as he watched her fall asleep. He wondered idly how long it would take for her to heal, and when she would start truly being difficult.

…..

It wasn't until two weeks later that Mikasa was awake more often than she was asleep. Eren's question from awhile ago was answered when she was constantly sitting up against everyone's better word and judgment. According to Mikasa, her legs felt dead and limp from lack of use and insisted that she get up and start walking again, but a single threat from Levi shut her up.

"You're not going anywhere until you're fully recovered, Ackerman," he spat, holding her down at the foot of the bed by the ankles as she tried to swing them over the edge. "We'll strap you into the bed if we have to. I had no problem beating your boyfriend half to death to save his life, and I sure as hell have no problem knocking you out and tying you down to save yours, either."

Mikasa didn't look at him, or at Eren or Armin, either. She faced the wall beside her bed and glared with all her anger and frustration, as if imprinting the captain's face into the grain. Her face was reddened by his comment, and also flustered as he brought back the memory that made her loathe every fiber of his being. She ground her teeth together, wanting nothing more than to be alone.

As if sensing the distress he was causing, Levi (who occasionally had a heart) released his hold on her legs and stood up straight, crossing his arms.

"One more comment about walking until your prescription is out, and I'll kick you off my squad. And that's an order. I can't have idiots who don't know their limits under my direct command. You're lucky we're postponing experiments until you recover. I wouldn't push my luck, if I were you." Her face showed no expression to his harsh words as the short man stalked out of the room, his shoes clopping on the wood floor the only sound to be heard.

"I hate him," she muttered under her breath when he was long since out of earshot.

"He's got a point, Mikasa," Armin said from the chair beside her bed. Eren stood behind him, his arms crossed as he watched Mikasa's expression carefully.

"I know he's right," she mumbled angrily, her brows furrowing together. "He just didn't have to be so abrasive."

"Actually, he did," Armin said as a matter-of-factly, twisting her expression into one of shock as she turned her gaze towards him. When Armin was confident, he wasn't wrong.

"You're a stubborn fool, Mikasa," he said kindly. Her eyes flashed from his to Eren's, then back to Armin's, as if to point out who the real stubborn idiot was. "I know, Eren is stupid and irrational, too, but… You're both stubborn. In different ways. Sometimes you both just need to be yelled at to be gotten through to."

She looked away again, but this time glaring at the ceiling. She knew Armin was right. But he didn't understand how it felt to be one of the best soldiers humanity has ever produced, and then bedridden for weeks when she and her skills were desperately needed. If there were to be another attack launched at them, she wouldn't be able to do anything, except get in the way. Or be eaten, and watch her comrades get eaten trying to protect her.

And she knew _damn well _that the midget of captain knew this, too. Nobody knew when the next attack would be. Hell, if Reiner and Berthold were smart, they would breach the wall again as soon as possible, while humanity's numbers dwindled and they struggled to get together more supplies and soldiers. Everything was on a delicate scale right now, and everyone knew they were vulnerable. She couldn't afford to be wasting her time lying around and sleeping. They should all be training, honing their skills, getting information about Eren's new powers, and trying to seal the wall.

She smiled to herself, as she realized how important these things were to Eren. Eren was the one who wanted to see humanity be free again, the one who wanted to fight tooth and nail for that dream. All she had wanted was a peaceful life within the walls, and yet she was so willing to give up that up to take on his dreams.

"What?" Eren asked, noticing the rapid change in her expressions, as did Armin. Mikasa just shook her head.

"Nothing," she said, turning her gaze back towards them. "I'm just delirious." Armin turned around in his chair to meet the concerned gaze that matched his, and as they exchanged a look, the same thought crossed their minds. Mikasa was going crazy being cooped up and feeling helpless.

The sound of heavy footsteps carried in from the hallway through the open door interrupted their thoughts. Jean popped his head into the doorway as Eren and Armin turned to see who was coming.

"Hey, Armin," he said. "We're getting ready to leave for the reserve."

"Oh, alright," the blond said, standing.

"Oh, hey Mikasa, you're awake," Jean said, a small smile lighting up his face as he entered the room. For the first time, Eren noticed a certain tone in Jean's voice that he wasn't sure he liked. His brows furrowed slightly, but that didn't go unnoticed by Mikasa, whose brows raised before she looked at Jean to return his greeting.

"How are you feeling?" he asked, pausing in the middle of the room.

"Forced against my will to do absolutely nothing," she said, the sour tone returning to her voice.

"You're looking healthier," he commented, ignoring the statement that nobody wanted to address. Even if he did usually speak his mind, he didn't dare say anything to piss off Mikasa, even if she was injured and bedridden.

"We should get going," Armin said, butting in and pulling Jean by the crook of the elbow towards the door.

"Have fun," Eren called after them, taking the now-empty seat by the bed as they left the room. Armin always knew how to fix awkward situations, especially before they blew up into something even more awkward.

"Eren, why were you giving Jean that look?" Mikasa asked as soon as she heard the boys' footsteps clattering down the stairs. Eren was taken by surprise for a second, not expecting Mikasa to pick up on that.

"What makes him think he can be so friendly to you?"

"Eren, we're comrades, squad members, and we all went through the same cadet group when we entered the military. You wouldn't call someone like that a friend?"

"Yeah, but he's got this attitude around you that he doesn't normally have, even with everyone else."

"How can you tell?"

Eren didn't have an answer for that. He didn't know how to explain to her that he could just sense the testosterone in Jean, and how he heard his voice when he spoke to Mikasa. It was different, somehow, from when he was speaking to Armin literally a second before. The smile that lit up his face… he couldn't explain how it just irritated him, and the more he thought about it, the more pissed off he felt.

"Intuition," he retorted frustratedly, leaning forward on his knees and resting his chin in one hand, propped up by the elbow. Mikasa giggled, a sound Eren hadn't heard since Connie had dared to play a practical joke on the corporal and dyed his hair red while they showered. Few people dared to laugh when Levi had walked by for the next couple weeks as if nothing were different or wrong with his appearance, Mikasa one of them.

"What are you laughing for?" he asked, but right as the question was out of his mouth, her face twisted in pain from her laughter, a pained cry barely escaping her teeth. He then thought of a few weeks back when she desperately fought the urge from showing any indications of pain when she had fallen flat on her chest, and compared it to now, where a few gentle racks of her ribs was enough to break her.

Eren realized she was opening herself to him. She would show this pained side of herself, but only to him. Instinctively, he reached forward and touched her cheek, as he had done _back there_, in the trees. He was happy to see that it had the same calming effect as his thumb trailed the skin down to her chin, but the feeling that he got when he saw the blush rise to her cheeks (another effect of his touch from _back there_) he didn't know how to describe, other than immense satisfaction that he didn't know he could feel.

It was like the warm feeling from before. Her chin rose as his finger swerved down to the sensitive skin, and the same sound escaped her shy lips as her eyes clenched closed. It was happening all over again. He realized that she was allowing him the same opportunity as before, inviting it, even.

As Eren sat beside her, his fingers tickling her chin, he stared down at her closed eyes, wondering what she was thinking. He wondered what she wanted from him, besides the obvious desire for him to touch her. He felt a deep desire for her to tell him where, because he knew there were certain places she wanted to feel him.

His hand began to move on its own, wasting no time beating around the bush like he had before. His hand ducked under the collar of her nightgown, slowly traveling down the valley between her breasts, his fingers squeezing between them. He could see Mikasa's body tense slightly, and decided to keep his hand still between her breasts to keep her in that tense state.

Her breathing quickened at the feeling of his warm hand pressed intimately into her chest. Moments passed as she waited for him to do something more, and when she started to get impatient, she let out a soft moan for him. She was pleased with herself when she discovered that it worked, as his hand started to move, and she was even more so pleased when Eren's hand cupped one of her breasts and gave it a gentle squeeze.

Eren deeply enjoyed the sound she made with his touch, a little more deeply and down under than he'd like to admit. Not only did the sound of her submission arouse him, but the soft, supple feeling of her breast in his hand encouraged him to squeeze it again, and again.

His thumb trailed over her soft, hot skin, Eren basking further into the delight that she wasn't wearing a bra this time, and yet she still felt so full and plump in his hand. When his thumb found the perk nub he was looking for, he absolutely enjoyed the sound of her quiet moans. He rubbed it over and over and over again, enjoying how she began to writhe beneath his touch.

He watched her face as his thumb began to circle around her nipple, enjoying how she bit her lip in frustration. He then leaned forward, hovering his face over hers until he could feel her hot breath entering the space between his parted, waiting lips. He held his breath, still gathering the courage to close the distance, when Mikasa's hand suddenly whipped out from underneath the blanket and pulled his head to down hers, taking his lips angrily.

In response, Eren's hand pulled out from her dress and snaked down with a great speed to her inner thighs, pressing down against the fabric of the gown and her panties and rubbing her furiously. Mikasa's mouth opened as she gasped against his kiss, Eren pressing back down and closing the distance once again. She moaned loudly into his mouth, the sound muffled as he continued to rub her, slowly but surely lessening the pressure to tease her.

Mikasa's fingers gripped the bed sheet beneath her, her other hand locking into his hair as he kissed and fingered her. She loved feeling Eren this way, and she could tell he enjoyed it, too. She felt herself rising as his fingers stopped their tactics and moved the dress fabric out of the way. She shook in anticipation as he thumbed the elastic of her panties, pulling it down slightly. But with a snap, he released it, his hand continuing down into her clothed folds, lightly rubbing her. She fought the desire to arch her back, the thin layer still between them and his tongue swirling with hers driving her crazy.

Her head was spinning, and her chest ached from her breathing, but she didn't want Eren to stop.

Eren didn't know how much longer he should keep this up, because she was starting to get too loud and she was moving too much to be healthy for her recovering injuries. But his body told him to keep going, to keep driving this girl to insanity and back before he had his way with her, and the internal struggle he faced with them getting caught and him fucking up her ribs even more was a hard battle.

His fingers slowly stopped teasing her and relaxed into more calming rubs, his other hand reaching for her face to stroke it gently as he slowed down their passionate kiss, hoping to get her breathing under control. The arousal beneath his pants was burning, which made it all the more agonizing to stop. Eventually his hand against her womanhood stopped moving altogether, and he just continued to kiss her slowly and passionately until she was as calm as she could be with her lips against his.

Eren found that he enjoyed this, too, but in a much different way than he did when he was controlling her. It was still warm and sensual, and he felt closer to her than anyone had ever been. He could kiss Mikasa like this all day, especially with how she moved her lips seeminly expertly against his.

Which is exactly what he did. And not just that day, but any day he had time to himself and the coast was clear while she was still healing. Their fiasco had taken a toll on her recovery, but one morning a couple weeks later, while Armin, Sasha, and Jean were leaving to return to the mountain reserve for more food, Eren slept in and awoke to check on Mikasa, finding her doing sit-ups with her toes shoved between the mattress and box spring of her bed.

"What the hell, Mikasa?" he said, scrambling over to her and scooping her up off the floor, much to her displeasure.

"I'm fine, Eren," she insisted as he set her back on the bed, pushing him away and standing up. It was then that he noticed she had changed clothes. She had been walking again for the past few days, with assistance at first. But she wasn't supposed to be doing heavy lifting and strenuous activities, and he wasn't expecting her to be exercising first thing in the morning.

"But you're-"

"I'm fine. Besides, you should get to work. Levi-heicho left again this morning and said he's tired of the filth and your guys' half-ass jobs at cleaning. He expects it to be done correctly when he returns."

"What about you? Shouldn't you be helping?"

"I'm exempt because I just got done taking a titan's grip to the ribs."

"But you were just doing sit-ups!"

"That was after Levi-heicho left. Besides, Christa and I are going to go chop some more firewood today."

"But you're exempt from doing chores!"

"That doesn't mean I'm not going to pull my weight. I'm healed, so what's the excuse?"

Eren would admit that it was more of anger and a desire to control her that made him grab her collar and yank her away from the bed, shoving her back into the wall. His hand found her hip while the other grabbed both of her wrists and held them above her head, as he glared down at her with the inch in height that he had on her. Her eyes showed a little surprise, but other than that, her expression was vacant.

That is, until he pressed his lips into hers once more, thoroughly distracting her from her chores.

Making out with her boyfriend seemed like a pretty good excuse.

* * *

**For those who are curious, the first two drafts included a more dominant, teasing Eren, but I didn't really like them. Also, thank you guys so much for the feedback! Especially concerning the quality of the characters. I usually write OOC characters without trying, but I'm glad to know that I'm at least doing a satisfactory job. (Except with Jean in this chapter. I'm not a huge fan of Jean, so I don't pay attention to him all that much.)**

**Lastly, I hope the humor I tried to implement in this chapter wasn't too distracting from Armin's/Mikasa's characters.  
**

**LastlyLastly, I hope this chapter flowed well, because I wrote it all with a fat headache and I _really_ don't feel like editing. (if you didn't catch it, I updated chapter 2 because of a plot hole I screwed with when I made Erwin join the rescue party for Eren and Mikasa. Injured people who lost an arm aren't exactly fit to go running around looking for lost squad members. I also almost messed up Christa's actual identity as Historia, because I forgot that at this point in the story, she hasn't come clean yet.)**

**Lastlyx3, thank you for reading. I am going to be marking this story as complete, but only temporarily. This story will continue on, but not for awhile. I apologize ahead of time for the wait.**

**.elric-logc**

**p.s. the world needs more eremika smut ;3;**

**p.s.s. the title was changed because i suck at titles, and don't be surprised if it changes again**


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